We'll begin our worship singing to God's praise in Psalm 29 from the Scottish Psalter.
Psalm 29, and we're singing verses 1 to 5.
Psalm 29 from the Scottish Psalter, and we sing verses 1 to 5.
Give ye unto the Lord, ye sons, that of the mighty be,
all strength and glory to the Lord with cheerfulness give ye.
And to the Lord the glory give that to his name is due,
and in the beauty of holiness unto Jehovah bow.
The Lord's voice on the waters is the God of majesty.
Doth thunder, and on multitudes of waters sitteth he.
A powerful voice it is that comes out from the Lord most high.
The voice of that great Lord is full of glorious majesty.
The voice of the Eternal doth asunder cedars tear.
Ye God the Lord doth cedars break that Lebanon doth bear.
Psalm 29, verses 1 to 5.
Give ye unto the Lord, ye sons.
Give ye unto the Lord, ye sons, that of the mighty be,
All strength and glory to the Lord with cheerfulness give ye.
All strength and glory to the Lord with cheerfulness give.
All strength the Lord with glory give,
That to his name is due.
And in the beauty of holiness
And to Jehovah
The Lord's white song
The water's is
The God of majesty
Doth thunder and
On multitudes
Of water's city
A powerful voice
It is that comes
And from the Lord
Most high
The voice of that
Great Lord is full
Of glorious majesty
The voice of the eternal God
Asunder cedars' hair
Yea God the Lord
Does cedars' break
That Lebanon
Amen
We're just going to bow in prayer
I should have intimated that
I'm sure you're all aware
That there is
The Holiday Twinnies
There is a creche
Upstairs in the hall
And the Holiday Twinnies
For children aged 3 to 7
Is in the hall as well
Next door
Just bow in prayer
For a moment
Lord our God
We give thanks for
Another day
Where we can worship you
Although it is a wild day today
We're conscious that
You are the God
That rules over the calm
And over the storms
And so we pray
That we may rest in you
And to trust in you
With all our heart
We pray Lord
That you will bless us
At this holiday time
As people are away
We pray your blessing on them
When they're on holiday
And we pray for those
Who are here on holiday
May be catching up
With friends and family
We give thanks Lord
For these times
And we know that
You are the God
Who wants us to
Come apart
And to rest a while
And these times
Are good for us
And so we pray
That you'll bless us
Bless each and every
One of us today
But above all
That we may
Look to you
Trust in you
Believe in you
And come to know you
As Lord and Saviour
Watch over us
Then we pray
And keep us
Ever looking to yourself
And forgive us
Our sin
In Jesus name
We ask it
Amen
And just a
We word to
The young folk
Just as you know
The holidays are on
Just now
And I don't know
Whether it was
In all the schools
But just before
The holidays
Joshua
Got a report
A report card
Or a
Report sheet
As to how he was doing
And it got me
Thinking back
Myself to these
Awful times
When you used to get
A report card
And I was
I suppose
The teachers
You always feel that
They have all the power
And they tell
Your parents
How you're doing
In your reading
In your writing
In your maths
And you know
When you get into secondary
How you're doing
Whether it's physics
Or chemistry
Or all the different subjects
How you're doing
And then at the end
They kind of
Tell what they think
Of how you're doing
Or what you should be doing
And
I remember one year
I was about ten at the time
And the report was not good
And there was nothing about it
That was good
And I was wishing
That someone would
Pinch my school bag
Because I didn't want
To go home
With a report
Or that
That I could some way
Lose my bag
In fact
I actually remember
On the way home
Taking the report out
And holding it
Hoping the wind
Would blow it away
But it didn't
And
My parents
Weren't best pleased
Particularly my mum
Was always
Trying to push me
And I was
I actually
Wasn't very good
At that sort of thing
It's funny
I met
Someone
For a wee while
Way back in the day
I was teaching
For a while
And I met somebody
Very well known
In this town
Who said to me
Hey
I've got a bone
To pick with you
He said
I was clearing out stuff
And I found
An old report card
You gave me
And you put in it
Could be doing much better
But too interested
In what other people
Are doing
And I
Well
I said
It must have been through
If I wrote that
You can ask me afterwards
Who it is
I don't want to say
Just now
But the thing is
We could all
Make out reports
I would hate
If you were to make
A report
On my sermon today
If you started
Making a report
About your mums
Your dads
Your brothers
Your sisters
How would you do
A report about yourself
But you know
In a sense
God
Is doing a report
On us as well
Because he's taking
Note of everything
Not only that we do
And everything we say
But even everything
That we think
And you know
You say to yourself
Oh my word
Because the bible
Tells us
That there's going to
Come a day
When we
When we've all
Got to go
Before the lord
And we're told
We have to give
An account
To explain
What we've done
In this world
Whether good or bad
And that's why
Jesus has come
He's come into the world
To make our report
Good
Because do you know
What he does
When we
Trust Jesus
Believe in him
Love him
Obey him
Follow him
He wipes away
Everything bad
From our report
And he stands
In our place
And it's the most
Wonderful thing
And that's why
It's so important
That we ask Jesus
To come into our heart
And into our life
And I know some of you
Have done that
I would pray that
All of you
Do that
So that you will know
The wonderful cleaning
Of what Jesus
Does for us
We're going to say
The lord's prayer
Our father
Which art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth
As it is in heaven
Give us this day
Our daily bread
And forgive us
Our debts
As we forgive
Our debtors
And lead us
Not into temptation
But deliver us
From evil
For thine is the kingdom
The power
And the glory
Forever
Amen
We're going to sing
Again now
From the second psalm
Psalm number two
And this is in
Sing Psalms
Verses six to the end
Psalm two
From verse six
To the end
The lord has made it
Known to them
My chosen king
I have installed
On Zion
My own holy hill
He is the one
Whom I have called
The king then
Solemnly declares
I will proclaim
The lord's decree
Today your father
I become
You are my son
He said to me
Ask me
And for your heritage
I'll give you nations
Near and far
You'll break them
With an iron rod
And smash them
Like a potter's jar
Now therefore
Kings
Through wisdom find
You judges of the earth
Give ear
With reverence
Come and serve the lord
Bow down with joy
And trembling fear
Pay homage
To the royal son
Lest you in wrath
A side are thrust
For swiftly can his anger blaze
Blessed are all
Who in him trust
Psalm two
From six to the end
And sing psalms
The lord has made it
Known to them
The lord has made it
Known to them
My chosen king
I have installed
On Zion
My own holy hill
He is the one
Whom I have called
The king then solemnly declares
I will proclaim
The lord's decree
Today your father
I've become
You are my son
He said to me
Ask me
And for your heritage
I'll give you nations
Near and far
You'll break them with an iron rod
And smash them like
A potter's jar
Now therefore
Kings
True wisdom
Find
You judges
Of the earth
Give ear
With reverence
Come and serve the lord
Bow down with joy
And trembling fear
Pay homage to the royal son
To the royal son
Blessed you in wrath
As I do
For swiftly can his anger blaze
Blessed are all
Who in him trust
Let us again bow in prayer
Lord as we come before you
The mighty and glorious God
We pray that we will come with a sense of
Through reverence and godly fear
We are in the presence of the almighty
The creator of heaven and earth
The one with whom we have to do
The one that one day we all have to give an account of
What we have done here whether good or bad
We pray that you will help us as we worship you today
We pray that you will help us in all that we are about throughout the week
We give thanks that we are able to depend upon you
And we pray for a growing sense of trust in you
Because so often we do lean on our own understanding
Rather than trusting you
So we pray that you will grant us the faith every day to live by faith
So often we are wrapped up in ourselves
And we forget that so often there is a bigger picture
Help us Lord to have visionary eyes
That may see beyond ourselves
And to understand so often Lord
That when you work
You work often through us
In ways that we don't understand
So grant us patience in the face of your providence
And grant us faith as we journey
At every step
We pray Lord that you will bless us all here today
With all our different needs
We ask Lord that you will keep us safe
And that you will bless us
That you will bless us in our homes
And bless us in our families
Lord we pray for all those who are unwell
Just now we are so conscious
That there are so many who are in need
And we ask your blessing upon them
We pray for healing
And we pray for help
We pray for strength and for grace
And we realise that when our world changes
So often with illness
That it has a huge impact upon everybody
And so we ask that your grace will be sufficient
We give thanks for the promise of sufficiency of grace
And we pray that that might be laid upon
And that your people will all be blessed
We pray your blessing of those who mourn
And whose hearts are heavy and sore
And we are conscious Lord that death
Death changes everything for our family
And even although the days may have moved on
In many ways
Family does not move on
There is a remaining settled sore
And so we pray that you will
Be with every broken heart today
And everybody who is feeling the pain and the sorrow
And the grief that comes
Through the loss of loved ones
Lord we pray for us
In all the different situations we confront
In every relationship that we are in
Whether these are in family
Or whether they are church relationships
Or work relationships
Or community relationships
And whatever it is Lord
We pray to help us
And to bless us
And to guide us
And to uphold us
Help us to be good witnesses
In a world where
We have always got to remember
That we are as your word says
Living epistles
Read by people
And we pray that
Our witness might be a good one
And forgive us Lord
For when we let you down
So often by what we say
And what we do
And we forget a watching world
That are taking note
And often assessing
And making a judgement
As to who Christ is
By the way we live
And so we pray that we might
Live worthy of the high calling
To which we have been called
We pray that you will bless
This congregation
And we ask that you will be with
James and with Donna
We pray that everything will have gone well
And that as she has returned home
And that she will regain strength again
We pray to be with her
And we pray that Lord
That you will be with James
As he approaches the final time
Of his ministry here
And we realise what a huge loss
It is going to be for us
So we pray that you will sustain him
And bless him
And that he will know the power
Of your spirit ministering in him
In these days
We pray for Calamurdo and Joan
As they are awake just now
And we ask your blessing upon them
And we pray for everybody
Who works here in this congregation
So much is done
Often that isn't
Maybe recognised and realised
By so many
But there are so many things that are done
But nothing is hidden from your eye
And you take note of every single thing
That is done in your name
And we know Lord
That each thing that is done by faith
In your name will receive its own reward
And so we pray to encourage your people
And be with them
In a day where there is so much to discourage us
We live in a day where there is a growing oppression
Towards the cause of Christ
We pray Lord
That you will overturn every attempt that is made
With regard to the legislation for this conversion therapy
And that people will be brought to realise
That it's an encroachment really upon the freedoms of the Gospel
O Lord our God
We pray for liberty for our nation
Gospel liberty
Gospel freedoms
Maybe we have taken all these blessings for granted for too long
And we pray then that you will keep us
Always having this freedom
Gospel freedoms
We pray then for our politicians
Whether they are in Westminster or in Holyrood
We ask Lord that you will guide them from on high
Not according to their own earthly wisdom
But that even despite themselves
Despite maybe their ignorance of the truth
Or their opposition to the truth
That you will still influence them
Because the King's heart is in the hand of the Lord
And he is able to turn it whichever way he will
We pray for our royal family
And ask your blessing upon them at this time
Where there is illness
And we pray for healing
We pray your blessing upon our local council
Our council and our councillors
We ask to bless them
And we pray that you will be with all
Who are places of responsibility in our land
And grant them wisdom
That we may indeed be able to enjoy
Gospel freedoms and gospel blessings
We pray your blessing upon Muriel
And we give thanks Lord for her coming home
And to grant her safety and health and strength
We pray your blessing upon all who serve you
In different countries
And ask Lord that you will encourage them
Maybe through difficult and dark times
And pray that you will sustain them and keep them
Particularly when the evil one might be attacking them
And telling them that their labour is completely in vain
May they be encouraged in knowing that no labour in the Lord is in vain
We ask then that you will be with us as we wait upon you
And pray that you will take away from us our every sin
In Jesus name we ask it, Amen
Amen
We are going to read two sections of God's word
Both in the book of the Acts of the Apostle
Chapter 9 first of all
And we read verses 1 to 15
Acts 9 verses 1 to 15
And then in chapter 16
But Paul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord
Went to the high priest
And asked him for letters to the synagogues of Damascus
So that if he found any belonging to the way
Men or women
He might bring them bound to Jerusalem
Now as he went on his way
He approached Damascus
And suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him
And falling to the ground
He heard a voice saying to him
Saul, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
And he said, who are you Lord?
And he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting
But rise and enter the city
And you will be told what you are to do
The men who were travelling with him stood speechless
Hearing the voice but seeing no one
Saul rose from the ground
And although his eyes were opened
Although his eyes were opened
He saw nothing
So they led him by the hand
And brought him into Damascus
And for three days he was without sight
And neither ate nor drank
Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias
The Lord said to him in a vision
Ananias
And he said, here I am Lord
The Lord said to him
Rise and go to the street called Straight
And at the house of Judas
Look for a man of Tarshish named Saul
For behold he is praying
And he has seen in a vision
A man named Ananias
Come in and lay his hand on him
So that he might regain his sight
But Ananias answered
Lord I have heard from many about this man
How much evil he has done
To your saints of Jerusalem
And here he has authority
From the chief priests
To bind all who call on your name
But the Lord said to him
Go for he is a chosen instrument of mine
To carry my name
Before the Gentiles and kings
And the children of Israel
Then we turn to chapter 16
And we read from verse 13
We find Paul and his missionary journeys here
In verse 13
Or we can read in verse 12
And from there to Philippi
Which is a leading city
Of the district of Macedonia
And a Roman colony
Who remained in this city some days
And on the Sabbath day
We went outside the gate to the riverside
Where we supposed
There was a place of prayer
And we sat down
And spoke to the women
Who had come together
One who heard us
Was a woman named Lydia
From the city of Thyatira
A seller of purple goods
Who was a worshipper of God
The Lord opened her heart
To pay attention
To what was said by Paul
And after she was baptized
And her household as well
She urged us saying
If you have judged me
To be faithful to the Lord
Come to my house
And stay
And she prevailed upon us
As we were going to the place of prayer
We were met by a slave girl
Who had a spirit of divination
And brought her owners much gain
By fortune telling
She followed Paul and us
Crying out
These men are servants of the Most High God
Who proclaim to you the way of salvation
And this she kept doing for many days
Paul having become greatly annoyed
Turned and said to the spirit
I command you
In the name of Jesus Christ
To come out of her
And it came out at that very hour
And when her owners saw
That their hope of gain was gone
They seized Paul and Silas
And dragged them into the market place
Before the rulers
And when they had brought him
To the magistrates
He said
These men are Jews
And they are disturbing our city
They advocate customs
That are not lawful
For us as Romans
To accept our practice
The crowd joined in attacking them
And the magistrates
Tore the garments off them
And gave orders to beat them with rods
And when they had inflicted many blows upon them
They threw them into prison
Ordering the jailer to keep them safely
Having received his order
He put them into the inner prison
And fastened their feet in the stocks
About midnight
Paul and Silas were praying
And singing hymns to God
And the prisoners were listening to them
And suddenly there was a great earthquake
So that the foundation of the prison
Was shaken
And immediately all the doors were opened
And everyone's bonds were unfastened
When the jailer woke
And saw the prison doors were open
He drew out a sword
And was about to kill himself
Supposing that the prisoners had escaped
But Paul cried with a loud voice
Do not harm yourself
For we are all here
And the jailer called for lights
And rushed in
And trembling with fear
He fell down before Paul and Silas
Then he brought them out and said
Sir, what must I do to be saved?
They said, believe in the Lord Jesus
And you will be saved
You and your household
And they spoke the word of the Lord to him
And all who were in the house
Amen
And may God bless to us
These readings of his own holy word
We are going to sing again now
Sing Psalm
Psalm 46a
Page 59
God is our refuge and our strength
Our ever-present aid
And therefore though the earth gives way
We will not be afraid
Though mountains fall into the sea
The waters foam and roar
We will not fear
Though mountains quake
As waves engulf the shore
A river flows
A river flows whose streams delight
The city of our God
The holy place in which the Lord
Most High
Has his abode
To the end of verse 7
Six stanzas of Psalm 46a
God is our refuge and our strength
Our ever-present aid
God is our refuge and our strength
Our ever-present aid
And therefore though the earth gives way
And therefore though the earth gives way, we will not be afraid.
Though mountains fall into the sea, though waters fall and roar, we will not fear.
Though mountains quake as waves in countless shores, a river flows to streams delight,
the city of our God, the holy place in which the Lord most high has his abode.
God is within this holy place, the city will not yield.
For God will come at break of day to be her help and shield.
The nations are in disarray, the kingdoms disappear.
God speaks and at his mighty voice, the whole earth melts with fear.
The Lord Almighty is with us to strengthen and sustain.
For Jacob's God our strong defence and fortress will remain.
Amen.
Probably the greatest missionary that the church has ever known, who was once one of the worst persecutors.
And then to look at the conversion of two of those who were by this converted missionary,
had come to faith through his ministry.
Now as we know, there were few religious people who hated the Lord Jesus Christ,
quite like the Apostle Paul or Saul of Tarshish as he was then.
And he was schooled in the ways of the Jewish religion.
And he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
He was somebody who understood the law at levels that few people could understand.
He had been taught by the best.
And he was somebody who prided himself in his knowledge of the truth.
But it just shows how blinded people can actually be.
And that's one of the things I would always, why it's so important that when we come to God's word,
that we come with a prayer in our heart that the Lord will open our eyes to understand, to see.
And that we be prepared to change preconceived ideas, pre-held ideas, to have them moved.
Because sometimes we can have our own ideas and we're absolutely passionate and we hold to them.
And sometimes they're not quite in keeping with God's word.
So that every time we come to God's word, we have to say to the Lord,
Lord, make me ready to be changed.
To change my thinking if that's necessary.
So that I will actually see and be, so that your word will have an impression and impact upon my heart and my life.
Because you see, Saul was somebody who studied the word of God.
But because he had pre-held ideas.
Because the whole sort of the school of the Judean law, their understanding of who Christ was to be the Messiah when he came.
Christ didn't fit their picture.
And so this was a major problem.
So we've always got to guard against that.
Well, that was Paul's or Saul's great problem.
Is that he had his own idea of who the Messiah was.
Jesus didn't fit it.
So in his eyes, Jesus was simply an imposter.
And he couldn't believe that Jesus had the audacity to claim to come from God and to be God.
Now it's more than likely that Saul actually would have seen Jesus.
I'm sure he was still alive.
He would, Saul would have been alive in the time of Christ.
And it's quite possible that Saul actually heard Jesus.
But he certainly was somebody who had been involved in the stoning of Stephen.
They laid their coats.
Those who were stoning had put them down.
And Saul saw the face of Stephen shining.
Where Stephen was given this glimpse into glory of.
And seeing Jesus standing there.
And his face was shining.
That didn't stop them stoning.
And Saul saw all that.
And he gave total assent to the stoning of Stephen.
And there seemed to have been a fire lit in Saul's heart.
A fire of hatred against everybody who followed the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he was going to do his utmost to wipe this way that they called it.
Of the Christian faith.
To remove it altogether.
And so when you look at Saul of Tarshish.
You see somebody and you'd say.
That's as hard a person.
As ever will come.
To faith in Jesus Christ.
You would write Saul off.
And say impossible.
Well.
We shouldn't write anybody off.
Because God's grace can go anywhere apart from hell.
God's grace is not in hell.
God's grace is all over this world.
There's this common grace.
Which everybody receives.
And we.
There's so many of the benefits that we receive in life come to us.
Of course.
All that's good comes to us from God.
But God's grace is full of surprises.
And God works often in what we deem impossible.
Nothing is impossible with God.
And right throughout the history of the church down to this day.
The Lord is saving and bringing in people.
That we might have written off.
That we would never believe could ever be Christians.
So we should never ever put anybody outside in our own thinking.
The grace of God.
In fact it's incumbent upon us to be praying for people.
To pray for.
If you think of somebody and you say.
Oh that person will never be a Christian.
That's all the more reason.
To start praying for them.
That they might be awakened.
And that they might hear the gospel.
And that they might come to faith.
Well anyway here's Saul.
Man on a mission.
And he has the full backing of all the religious leaders.
As he's making his way down.
To cause as much havoc as possible down.
And he's heading to Damascus.
And you know it's really sad when you see this.
That these people the likes of Saul.
Is actually thinking he's doing God a service.
He's doing this as a religious man.
Thinking that he's helping God.
And right to this very day.
There are many people being put to death.
By religions.
And they're doing it as a service to God.
In their own thinking.
And Jesus said that was going to happen.
He said that Jesus warned.
And he prophesied.
That they're going to put you to death.
And they think that they're doing God a service.
When they put you to death.
It's an extraordinary thought.
Well here's Saul.
And he's about 150 miles.
Down from Jerusalem.
And then all of a sudden.
This incredible blinding light.
As he describes later on.
Brighter than the midday sun.
And it shone down upon him.
And it blinded him completely.
And he couldn't see anything.
And he fell to the ground.
And you know it's interesting.
That this is always the impact.
The effect.
Of the glory.
Of the Lord.
On anybody.
When Jesus was here in this world.
We know he was here in the human nature.
And it was as all the glory that belonged to him.
As the divine was eclipsed.
And people just saw the man.
But there were moments.
When something of the glory.
Would come through.
Like at the transfiguration.
When they came to arrest Jesus.
Who are you seeking?
Jesus of Nazareth.
I.
He says.
I am.
I am he.
What happened?
They all fell to the ground.
They couldn't stand.
Before the glory.
That was revealed.
Just for a moment.
It was too great.
Fell down.
You see.
Ezekiel.
When he's given that vision.
He falls to the ground.
You see it at the time.
Of the dedication.
Of the temple.
In the time of Solomon.
They couldn't stand.
In the presence.
Of the glory of the Lord.
You see John.
In the book of Revelation.
He falls as one dead.
At the display.
Of the glory of Jesus.
This is the risen Jesus.
And so.
This is what happens to Saul.
The Lord gives.
A revelation of himself.
To him.
He falls down.
Just.
Just in a heap.
And that's the glory.
Before.
Whom we have all to appear.
It is before the risen Jesus.
That is where the judgment seat.
Will take place.
Many people think of Jesus.
Simply as the human Jesus.
Well he still is the human Jesus.
The human nature.
He took.
He has forever.
He continues to have.
But it is now.
In all the glory.
That he has sworn.
And it is this glory.
That no human.
Can stand before.
And that's why.
We're told in Philippians.
That before him.
Every knee.
Will bow.
And every tongue.
Will confess.
That Jesus Christ.
Is Lord.
To the glory of God.
The Father.
No atheists.
No agnostics.
No mockers.
No scoffers.
No.
No infidels.
On that day.
All with one accord.
Will acknowledge.
That Christ.
Is Lord.
It's a very very.
Very solemn thought.
Well we see here.
That.
Saul.
Is absolutely.
Overcome.
By the.
The presence.
And the power.
And then this voice.
Says.
Saul.
Why are you persecuting me?
You see.
Every blow.
That is struck.
Against the follower.
Of Christ.
Is felt.
By.
By Jesus.
Because he's head.
Of the church.
You know.
When you get hit.
And you're.
In any way.
Yes.
It is where you get hit.
That hurts the most.
But you feel.
Your whole.
Being feels it.
Well the Lord.
Is showing us here.
That.
Every blow.
That is hit.
Christian.
Is felt.
By him.
As well.
Now.
There are so.
Many things.
That we could say.
Here.
But.
Because we're going to.
Move on.
Very quickly.
But.
Just that we see.
Here.
As.
That.
Saul.
As he goes along.
Two or three things.
That.
That has happened here.
Saul.
Tells us.
Later on.
That he was.
Apprehended.
By Christ.
Christ.
He was on his way.
To persecute Christians.
And all of a sudden.
The one who was on his way.
To arrest.
Christians.
Is arrested.
By Christ.
Christ.
Stops him.
In his tracks.
He's apprehended.
By Christ.
Wonder if.
Anybody here.
Can experience.
Know something.
Of that experience.
Maybe your conversion.
Is such.
That you know.
Of how you were going.
In one direction.
And then all of a sudden.
You were stopped.
In your tracks.
And you knew.
That a power.
Greater than your own.
Was working in you.
That was the beginning of it.
Well that's how it was.
With.
With Saul.
He was.
Arrest.
And then.
Side by side.
With that.
There was a.
There was this light.
This divine illumination.
This light shone.
Now immediately.
I don't believe.
That right away.
That there was a.
That immediately.
Saul came to immediate faith.
In Jesus.
But he was completely.
Thrown.
And the work had started.
This.
This light.
That blinded in.
On him.
It's extraordinary.
How here's Saul.
Who was thundering down.
Into Damascus.
With fire.
Breathing fire.
He's actually led.
Blind.
By other people.
Into Damascus.
Just shows what God can do.
Just like that.
But God is at work.
In Saul.
And he tells us again.
Of this light.
That there was this divine.
And.
In a way.
And I'm sure.
I'm sure the Christians.
In Damascus.
When they heard the news.
They're coming down.
To create havoc.
To put us to death.
To take us to prison.
They'd be praying.
Chief.
Persecator Saul.
How are we going to be saved from him?
And if they had looked.
At Saul.
is divine illumination.
As he says elsewhere,
God commanded light to shine out of darkness
and he has shone light into our hearts.
Just as at the very beginning when God said
into the darkness, let there be light.
So he continues to do so.
Let there be light.
And we need that light.
Because you know, when that light comes from the Lord,
all of a sudden things begin to make sense.
You might be sitting in church week in, week out.
And it's alright you come and it's great you come.
But there's a lot of things that just don't make sense.
And you're saying,
I wish I could just get the hold of this properly.
I'm figuring out quite a bit of it,
but I feel a lot just drifting by.
What you need is this light.
This illuminating light.
where your mind is opened up.
Where everything begins to make perfect sense.
And you say,
Lord, now I see.
Yes, it's so clear.
It's so obvious.
Well, that's what happened with Saul.
He had been in darkness.
A darkness that was satanic,
but a darkness of the blindness of his own heart.
A blindness,
and I don't believe for one moment
that Saul didn't have moments of doubt in his own mind.
He had seen Stephen in his death.
He had heard testimonies from other Christians.
He was fighting.
He was an angry man.
Do you know,
some of the most angry men
and angry women
are because there's so much
that they're battling with within themselves.
Sometimes that anger spills out
because they're angry
at what's going on within themselves.
They want to believe one thing,
but there's something that's going against.
Well, anyway, this light came in.
And the other thing that Paul tells us
that God's grace was in abundance.
That's another thing that's happened.
God's grace.
And God's grace enables a person.
It's like the final part of the jigsaw.
So the most important part
is where the will is broken,
where we hand over to the Lord.
That's the hardest part.
If you're today here
and you're not a Christian,
that's the hard part, isn't it?
Giving up.
Because we want to be in control.
We want to go where we want to go.
We want to do what we want to do.
We want to say what we want.
We want to be masters.
There's a control freak.
You hear the word?
He's a control freak.
She's a control freak.
We're all control freaks by nature.
We want to be in charge of our lives.
It's the hardest thing to give up.
But we have to.
For Christ to be ruler and master.
And Paul discovered that.
He had to let go.
He had to yield.
And that's what God's grace enables us to do.
To give up the last thing
that we want to give up.
And so we find this.
That this is a changed man.
And he's a man now on a different mission.
He was on a man on a mission before.
Going to have to race on
because the time is going.
We're just skipping on.
And then we find by God's grace
that Paul becomes,
names changed to Paul,
becomes his missionary.
And a great New Testament missionary.
He goes down into Philippi.
And we find there in chapter 16
that on the Sabbath day,
they make their way to the riverside
where there's a group of women praying.
It would appear that in Philippi,
there weren't enough.
Apparently, you had to have 10 men,
10 Jews.
You had to have a quorum of 10
to start a synagogue.
Well, it would look like
there wasn't sufficient.
There weren't 10,
sort of what you would say,
religious Jews there to start on.
So there was this meeting
by the riverside,
a woman who had come together.
And Paul went there
and he spoke to them
and he shared the gospel.
And amongst the women there,
there was this lady, Lydia.
And she was from this place,
Thyatira.
And she was obviously doing very well.
Thyatira apparently was known
for its dyes,
for dyeing,
coloring different things.
And she was a seller of purple,
which was probably dyed in purple
and probably doing very well.
And it would appear
that she was a very sincere
and genuine woman,
a religious woman,
a woman who seemed to have
kind of embraced
the Jewish faith
and was a sincere
and genuine worshiper of God,
but didn't have Christ.
It was all on an outward.
And you know,
there's a lot of people like that.
There's a lot of religious people,
even within the Christian church.
But everything is outward.
And they believe in God
and they come to worship God
and their worship is sincere.
But you know,
it's not there.
It's not there yet.
It's not hard.
They've got to get beyond.
Well, that Lord's Day morning,
that's what happened with Lydia.
She was a good woman,
a sincere woman,
a genuine woman,
a woman who worshipped God
and served God
in her own way,
but her heart hadn't been changed.
Her heart hadn't been touched.
But that morning,
it tells us very simply,
the Lord opened her heart
to pay attention
to what was said by Paul.
How different.
No blinding light.
No voice from heaven.
It couldn't have been more different.
She's just sitting there
and she's listening
and as Paul speaks,
the Lord opens her heart
to receive the truth
and to accept Jesus.
You know,
maybe that's how it is for you.
Maybe as you look back
over your life,
you say,
I can't follow Paul.
No idea about that.
That's dramatic.
In fact,
it's so low key in my life,
sometimes I don't,
I can't tell you.
Can't tell you any day or hour
or can't even tell you what month.
All I know is
I was once blind,
but I now see
and I love the Lord.
There was a day
my worship was purely outward.
Now it's inward.
It's in my heart.
And I really,
I really love
coming to worship the Lord.
See,
that's a change
within.
And that's what happened
to Lydia.
And we see the result
of that change
in her heart
because she opens up
her home to Paul
and she says,
come on,
come to my house.
And you know,
that's what happens
when the Lord works
in a person's heart.
He opens more than the heart.
He opens them,
them out to serve,
to work,
to,
here I am Lord,
use me.
Now we're just skipping through
because the time is going.
And then we come
and again,
they're all familiar stories
but it's just showing
the difference
of how God works
with different people.
And we're familiar now
with the story here.
Paul is still in Philippi
and every day
as Paul and Silas
are going about,
there's this young woman
who's a fortune teller
and she's crying after them,
these men are the servants
of the Most High God.
And at the end,
Paul gets fed up of her
and he commands
the evil spirit
to come out of her.
The evil spirit comes out.
But the problem
for the men
who owned this girl
or not who owned
or exploiting her
was that the money,
the social money,
she was telling people's fortunes
for money
stopped.
Income was gone.
So they were incensed
and they dragged
Paul and Silas
to the rulers
and said,
look,
these men,
and they came in
using the racist stuff.
These men are Jews.
We're Romans.
And they've come in
and they've started
teaching us things
that are not lawful.
Now the thing is,
Paul and Silas
were actually Roman citizens
and had all the protection
that that brought.
And they couldn't,
what happened to them
couldn't have happened,
wouldn't have been
allowed to happen
had the authorities known.
That's why the authorities
afterwards are petrified
when they discover
that Paul and Silas
are Roman citizens.
But anyway,
without any inquiries,
whatever,
they get them
and they give them
a horrendous flogging.
And they put them
to the prisoner
and said,
put these men
into the maximum
security wing
of the prison.
That's what he does
into the inner prison
and sticks their feet
into the stocks.
And you know,
it's wonderful
the attitude
of Paul and Silas.
when you put yourself
in their situation,
there you are
and your feet
clumped
in these awful things.
Your back
is pouring blood
where you've been
beaten horrendously
and your limbs
are sore,
everything is aching.
I'm sure
if it was me,
I'd be saying,
Lord,
what on earth?
Why,
Lord?
I'm only trying
to serve you.
I came here
because I believe
this is where
you were pointing me to.
And that's exactly
where the Lord
was pointing him to,
pointing Paul to.
But you see,
we always only see
what's happening
to ourselves
right in front of us.
We don't see
the big picture.
You see,
there was somebody
in that prison
that needed
to be converted.
And so Paul
and Silas
have to get into
that prison
to be used
by the Lord
for that conversion.
So we've always
got to remember
the picture
is always bigger
than ourselves.
And it's a lesson
that we have to learn
over and over again.
So there,
in the prison,
we find that
Paul and Silas,
they're actually
praising God.
They're praying
and praising God.
And it tells us
that the prisoners
heard them.
What a testimony.
And we read,
of course,
of how the earthquake
came,
of how the prison
doors were flung
open and everything.
And a prison
officer,
the jailer,
was going to kill
himself because
he knew the punishment.
If you were
a prison officer
and a prisoner
escaped,
you were put to death.
That was the rules.
So he knew
prison doors opened,
they'll all be away,
I'm a dead man walking.
But there was
more than that.
The man was
utterly disturbed
because Paul
cried out
and he says,
don't do any
harm to yourself.
We're all here.
You know,
this shouldn't
happen.
And the man
all of a sudden,
you've got to remember
that this man here
would be one of the
most brutal guys
that you could meet.
He'd be a hard man
with no feeling.
He was used to
every kind of
torture,
every kind of
pain.
He afflicted people
with no thought
or care.
but all of a sudden
he's a trembling
wreck
because God
has come into
the picture.
And this man's
conscience
all of a sudden
is troubled.
You know,
God gave us
a conscience
and a sensitive
conscience
is a wonderful
thing.
Far too often
consciences,
our conscience
can become
deadened
so that
so many people
walking around
their conscience
is dead.
all of a sudden
this man's
conscience
is troubled.
And all of a sudden
everything is thrown
upside down.
And he realizes
I'm in a terrible
situation.
Here's this man
who didn't fear
God or man.
All of a sudden
he fears God
in a way that
he didn't know
was possible.
And he cries out
what must I do
to be saved?
And we know
very simply
the answer.
Believe
in the Lord Jesus
and you will be saved.
What does that mean?
It means
believe in your
mind.
Believe everything
that the word of God
tells you
about Jesus.
That's important.
You believe
everything
the word of God
tells you.
That's not enough.
It's important
to have it in your
mind
but it needs
to go deeper.
You need
to believe
in your heart.
That's where
you need the Lord
and you have to say
to the Lord
Lord help me
to believe.
I want to believe.
I believe
there might be
people here today
and that's exactly
where you are
and you say
I want to believe
but I'm stuck.
When you ask
the Lord
Lord
right now
open my heart
to believe
in you
and break
my will
in order
to receive you.
And you know
if you really
pray with
all your heart
that's what
you really want
the Lord
will answer
your prayer.
That's the kind
of prayer
he will answer.
And you ask
the Lord
that
he will come
in
and once
the Lord
comes in
he will do
you good.
And you might
be saying to
yourself
think of all
the things
I've done
in life
and the kind
of person
I am
and will
the Lord
take me?
Of course
he will.
We've just
looked at
three people
they couldn't
be more
different.
the ferocious
persecutor
the nice
religious
woman
and the
hard-hearted
jailer
all their
experiences
are different
but they all
found faith
they all came
to believe
in Jesus.
So what
about you?
Well today
is another
opportunity
for you
to believe.
Let's pray.
Lord we
we give
thanks for
how varied
the ways
of experiences
are in
people
and yet
at the end
of the day
there is
only one
way
where we
come to
believe
and to
accept
Jesus
as Lord
and Saviour.
And so we
pray Lord
that you
will open
any eyes
that so
far have
not seen
open any
ears that
so far
have not
heard
so that
they will
see
and hear
and believe.
We pray
that you
will bless
us.
Take us
home safely.
Watch over
us and keep
us and guide
us day by
day.
Forgive us
our every
sin in
Jesus name.
Amen.
We're going
to conclude
singings from
Psalm 146
in the
Scottish
Psalter
from
verse 7
to the
end.
Psalm 146
from
verse 7
to the
end.
Who
righteous
judgment
executes
for those
oppressed
that be?
Who to
the hungry
giveth
food?
God
sets the
prisoners
free.
The
Lord
hath
given
the
blind
their
sight,
the
bowed
down
doth
raise.
The
Lord
doth
dearly
love
all
those
that
walk
in
upright
ways.
The
stranger
shield,
the
widow's
stay,
the
orphan's
help
is he,
but yet
by him
the
wicked's
way turned
upside
down
shall
be.
The
Lord
shall
reign
forevermore.
Thy
God,
O
Zion,
he
reigns
to
all
generations.
Praise
to the
Lord
give
ye.
Psalm
146
from
verse
7
to
the
end.
Who
righteous
judgment
executes.
for
those
oppressed
that
be,
who
do
the
hungry
giveth
food,
God
sets
the
prisoners
free.
The
Lord
doth
give
the
blind
their
sight,
the
pardon
of
the
praise,
the
Lord
doth
dearly
love
all
those
that
walk
in
upright
ways.
The
strangers
shield,
the
widows
save,
the
or
open
hell
is
he,
but
yet
by
him
the
way
is
way,
turned
up,
side
down
shall
be.
The
Lord
shall
reign
forever
more
like
God
who
died
on
thee.
Praise
to
all
generations,
praise
to the
Lord
to
the
Lord
give
peace.
I'll go to this door on my right.
Now may the grace,
mercy and peace of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest and abide upon each one of you now and forevermore. Amen.
Amen.
véx
amen.
for
all
people
in
Thank you.